Following the success of some previous methods I have written, I decided to spend some time putting a new one together that has a higher chance of success. There are no "tricks" in this guide and no silver bullets. This is for people serious about making money who are fed up trying "methods" that work for a week and then stop. You will not make a million dollars overnight, but it is certainly possible if you're willing to work hard. The guide also helps you build up a small website business with REAL value that can eventually be sold.
Why trust me?
- I've been full-time online for nearly 6 years
- My company generated over $1m in revenue for the last 2 years
- I have been contributing to the BHW community for years. I have no ebooks to sell
Yeah, yeah! You run a business, no-one works for free!
Okay you are right! My company helps people sell successful websites making over $1000 a month so I WANT you all to succeed and make nothing until you do!
This method is ideally suited to people who have not started making consistent money online (or want to add a new revenue stream) and would be happy reaching $1000/month within 6 months (with 1 site). It is possible to scale this method and make more but the initial guide is aimed at those getting started without much to invest. We’ll be using the Amazon.com affiliate program.
- You have at least $100 to start
- You are willing to work at least 20 hours to start (not all at once) and then 3 hours per week
- You have the ability to write content (or buy it)
I will be writing more advanced guides for those with more cash to invest upfront ($1000+) but this is a great way to get started and can easily be scaled once you’ve got something making money consistently. Followed correctly, you should make around $30,000 in the first year (assuming you decide to sell the site).
Before releasing this method, to prove anyone can do it, I have been working with a friend on this to ensure the instructions were easy to follow. He had:
- No cash beyond the initial $100 to start
- Never made $1 online
- Never made a website before
- A full-time job
- A few hours per week spare
His site launched in December and his earnings since (following this method and no cheating by doing extra work – he really is very lazy!):
The aim of this guide is as follows:
- Teach you how to choose a niche
- Teach you how to create your first website
- Teach you best practises for setting up the website
- Teach you to drive traffic to the website
- Teach you to get to $1000/month within 6 months
- Teach you how asset value works so you can eventually sell the website after 12 months for $XX,XXX.
It is important to follow the steps in order – don’t just jump ahead if you’re feeling lazy or it will not work.
Phase 1 – Choosing a Niche
To keep things simple, this guide does not focus on SEO or keyword research which are whole skills in themselves. For beginners, I do not believe it is necessary to do this to start making initial sales and it keeps costs down as you don’t need to buy fancy keyword research tools. If you do have experience with keyword research, feel free to apply this here. Most people waste months trying to find a niche – my advice is just to get started. The person who started 6 months ago will always beat the guy who has just found the “perfect” niche.
Here’s what to look for in a niche:
- Something evergreen and not seasonal. Not a product that will be going out of fashion any time soon. If you are not sure, use Google Trends – ideally the niche you choose will have a stable/steadily growing line and consistent all year.
- Products in the $50-1000 range on Amazon. Ideally your niche will have products at various price levels so you can target various visitor demographics. Don’t just choose expensive products and don’t just choose cheap products or you will struggle to make the money I discussed at the beginning of this method.
- Don’t pick a niche that is categorised as “electronics” on Amazon. Check out this page to ensure the products you choose are not in a fixed fee structure below 8%. The vast majority of products/niches on Amazon will be subject to the "General Products" commission tiers (table 2 on that page) - they are the ones you want.
- Something you are interested in. When starting out, it helps if you are interested in the niche – this will help with content and promoting the site. Don’t just pick a niche you know nothing about when you don’t have cash for outsourcing.
- Pick a niche that is big enough to have at least 20 products with more than 50 reviews. If in doubt, just find something from the best sellers section: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers/zgbs
- Pick a relevant domain name (do not register it yet). Again, don’t spend too long on this. Just pick something that is available, simple and ideally a .com/.org/.net. You can even pick something quite brandable for your niche.
- Pick a reasonably broad category. We are not building a micro-niche site so no need to worry about finding something with zero competition.
Example niche (I have not tested this niche, nor should you use it):
Mattresses.
Consistent in Google Trends:
Products in the $50-1000 range on Amazon. Many have more than 50 reviews:
I like to sleep, so this would be a good niche to start with. SEO gurus might say “oh but this niche is too competitive” – but that doesn’t matter. We’re not trying to rank #1 for every keyword in the industry and it is not required to make $1000 a month. We just need to sell a few mattresses a day to hit our target!
Domain wise, most people will hear you need an exact match domain and just look for “bestmattressreviewsin2016.com” or something boring like that. I would go with something less spammy looking and that feels more personal and authoritative. I can see “sleepwellexpert.com” is free – so that could be an option. Again, don’t waste too much time on this! Time is money.
Once you have chosen your niche, move onto Phase 2!
Phase 2 – Building Your Website
Unfortunately, I am not the most technical person in the world so I asked a friend of mine to write up a detailed guide instead and sort a good deal on hosting for everyone.
To test the guide initially, I sent it to my other friend (who I helped with this method) and ensured he could follow it properly. It took him less than 20 minutes (remember he is a newbie and never built a website before!) to have a basic website up and running.
Click here to read the guide.
My friend also negotiated an AWESOME deal with SiteGround to get a massive 60% discount on their shared hosting packages and a FREE domain name! If you already have hosting they are still worth checking out - especially if you're having issues with your current host as they offer free site migrations for new customers.
Click here to get the deal.
He does get a small commission from every sale but he was very helpful putting together a huge guide & video for you all as a favour to me. If everyone had followed my method for building a website this method wouldn’t be very good!
To complete phase 2 you need to:
- Register your domain name you identified in Phase 1 above.
- Buy your web hosting
- Install Wordpress (do not worry about choosing a theme at this stage!)
- That's it!
Do not use free hosting at this stage and with the deal my friend negotiated you do not need to settle for a .info domain like many do as they are cheap.
By the end of Phase 2, you should not have spent much more than $100 unless you decided to go for a more powerful hosting package or pay a few years in advance to get a better deal.
Once you’ve done all that you’re ready for Phase 3. Congratulations!
Phase 3 and beyond will be launched once there have been at least 100 replies on this thread with relevant questions or telling me you've completed Phase 1 & 2 so I can ensure the instructions are helpful to all. No spammy replies please!
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